


hang on for dear life

by firelord65



Series: Fecky's Whumptober Oneshots [1]
Category: Divergent (Movies), Divergent Series - Veronica Roth
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book/Movie 2: Insurgent, Gen, Hanging, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:55:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26763952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firelord65/pseuds/firelord65
Summary: “You’re gonna hang,” I had been told. Peter’s face had been gleeful in a manic sort of way when he said it.
Series: Fecky's Whumptober Oneshots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950469
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	hang on for dear life

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! I'm participating in Whumptober for at least a few days this October. These are gonna be shorter li'l oneshots and ficlets and might not be the same sort of story-focused pieces that I typically do. Hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Wasn't sure how to use the Archive Warning tags for this. There's no explicit character death anywhere, but the direction of the fic is very much about impending death. So that's why it's "Chose Not to Use".

They might claim to have the greatest intellect and the best faction, but Erudite couldn’t disguise the cruelty that lay buried not so deep underneath. It was the biggest lie, outside of Abnegation’s claim to put everyone above their own hubris. My father - and plenty of others - believed that only  _ Dauntless  _ was a faction of chaos and needless violence.

I wondered, just for a moment, what excuse he would have given Erudite for the sentence they had handed to his own daughter. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that he wouldn’t, either. For all his critique, for all his poorly-if-at-all-concealed anger at the dinner table, for all that Erudite had done even in the moments leading up to his death I knew that something in Andrew Prior didn’t allow him to truly believe that his faction was wrong. 

After all, there were people like my mother helping those like me or like Evelyn slip through the system. And didn’t that mean that the system was being undermined? Didn’t that mean that somewhere in the depths of the vitriol and libel there was a kernel of truth? 

My legs threatened to give out underneath me. Premature, I know. My shirt collar was pressing against my neck, furthering my anxiety. Even the air in the tiny room I’d been shoved in - a makeshift cell that looked to be stolen from a sleep study - was stale and lifeless. 

“You’re gonna hang,” I had been told. Peter’s face had been gleeful in a manic sort of way when he said it.  _ He _ was exactly what he appeared to be. I had thought about biting my tongue and letting him get whatever last word he thought he had. Then I thought about the alternative if that really had been the last time I would speak to him. 

“You still won’t be number one,” I remarked. It was his biggest weakness, always. Ego. Peter’s expression soured deliciously as his lip curled and his eyebrows furrowed deeper. I continued, “Promise me you won’t forget. They called  _ my _ name for first ranked. And first jumper. Oh, and Christina and I won CTF that night, too, in case you forgot.”

He couldn’t get at me through the door, not without risking me getting out. Some tiny sliver of intelligence kept him from trying to push the issue. Maybe Erudite was rubbing off on him. Or maybe he didn’t have the key. 

He slammed on the window that separated us with his fist and said something to try and scare me. It wasn’t clever and I didn’t bother committing it to memory. I just remembered smiling blissfully at him until he left.When he walked away my smile had dropped away, too. But it was nice making sure that I still could have some last impact on the world around me. 

Because now there was just the waiting. They would have to march me out to  _ somewhere _ if they really were going to hang me. I clung to that, too. Another “last” on my list. 

One last jab at my nemesis. One final walk. I didn’t want to believe they were all that I had left. And yet without a weapon, without a plan, I equally had nothing to the contrary, either. 


End file.
